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Top 10 Distractions in the Office
Controlling Daily Interruptions
What comes to mind when you think about office distractions?
The most common ones cited are email, telephone, and paper. Of themselves, those are enough to overwhelm a person each day. However there are other distractions causing you to lose valuable, productive minutes. Some of these you may not initially consider a distraction. Yet anything that sidetracks your focus can be a problem. The challenges are common regardless of whether you are in a corporate environment, small office organization, or home setting. How does your office environment provide for the following?
- Telephone
- Paper
- Visitors
- Environment
- Noise
- Meetings
- Lists
- Expectations
- You
Reveiw each of these to assess whether they might be issues during your day.
1. Email. There are two main problems that occur. One is the constant alert notices for new messages. You can choose to turn off those indicators. The second is an inbox that never gets cleared. You then repeatedly scroll through all of the items because you are fearful of overlooking an action. Find a system of folders that lets you empty the general inbox and prioritize your action items.
2. Telephone. Do you feel you have to answer every call right when it comes in? Allow yourself some uninterrupted time each day and let your voice mail tell callers when they can expect to hear from you. Set aside shorter time blocks to deal with non-urgent calls.
3. Paper. If you have stacks of papers on your desk, you will shift through them frequently to find the urgent tasks. Instead set up Daily Action folders, make a decision on the needed action the first time you look at it, place it in the appropriate folder, and keep your desk cleared of distracting stacks.
4. Visitors. Clients may drop by without notice or a colleague may have a break and decide to relax in your space. Get to the point quickly if someone comes by and interrupts your work. Socializing is good at certain times, but, like aspirin, too much within the work day is not beneficial. In a corporate setting, visits might come from colleagues who have a break. In a small office organization, with just a few people, one person stopping to chat can distract everyone else in the area.
5. Environment. One measure is the temperature. If you are either too cold or too hot, you are constantly reflecting on how uncomfortable you are. Another category is lighting. If set up improperly, it can create glare, leading to headaches and tired eyes which will require you to take breaks more frequently. There is no single answer for the correct temperature or light situation. You need to determine the best level for yourself.
6. Noise. Overhearing colleagues' discussions, one-sided telephone conversations, or external activities diverts your concentration. If you are easily distracted, try closing your door or using a small white noise machine or wearing headphones.
7. Meetings. In a work environment where meetings are frequent, it becomes difficult to set aside an uninterrupted block of time for detailed projects. You end up coming in early or staying late so that you can finally get work done on those projects. Make sure you have scheduled time on your calendar to focus on projects during business hours.
8. Lists. Working from a list of tasks or phone calls received will cause you to review the same items again and again. You keep repeating decisions every time you scan through the listings. Your mind jumps around instead of focusing on one item in front of you. Write down tasks on single sheets of paper so that you can easily prioritize your work and improve your focus.
9. Expectations. What response time has unofficially developed with regard to returning phone calls and email messages? When you feel you have to respond immediately to communications, you allow yourself to constantly be interrupted. Could a three-minute response time be changed, letting people know you will get back to them within two hours or four hours? Outlook has "Rules & Wizards" you can apply for the VIPs in your system who must always get through.
10. You. It is easy to blame outside factors for disruption but often you yourself are the cause. You may become bored with your activity and decide to check email for a few minutes; or you have several projects in view and your mind flits from one to the other. Work with only one project on your desk at a time. If you momentarily lose focus, do not give up for the day. Try to get back on track. It is the same concept as eating something that is not on your diet. That does not mean the whole day is lost.
The first step in limiting distractions is to be aware of them. Once you recognize what interferes with your work, you can begin to make the changes that will add to your daily productivity.
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